UC Riverside

Research indicates that anxiety is inversely related to academic performance. Many students engage in self-defeating behaviors (e.g., procrastination) that negatively affect their academic performance. While a large body of research has explored how anxiety can affect academic performance at the point of performance (e.g., test anxiety), research has failed to focus on a second possibility, in which anxiety affects performance by affecting the quality of an individual’s preparation. Preparation anxiety refers to anxiety directed toward the work required to prepare for a performance, rather than toward the performance itself, and it often provokes individuals to put off or avoid preparation.

The current research was focused on developing a measure of preparation anxiety, The Preparation Anxiety Scale (PAS). Focus groups were conducted to generate items relating to preparation anxiety. An exploratory factor analysis identified a 32-item, three-factor solution. The three factors that emerged were identified as behavioral avoidance, cognitive stress, and affective nerves. Overall, the scale displayed good reliability and test-retest reliability. Additionally, the PAS exhibited convergent and discriminant validity.

The PAS was found to be positively related to constructs such as procrastination, self-handicapping, depression, test anxiety, and trait anxiety. The PAS was negatively related to constructs such as self-esteem, self-liking, and self-competence. Overall, the current work helps to present an alternate view of struggling students, one in which students are not necessarily lazy, but are instead avoiding work as a result of anxiety. Implications and future directions are discussed.